Our society is becoming more and more divided into the very wealthy on the one
hand and the majority of people on the other. According to recent polls, 83% of
the American people believe that "this country is headed in the wrong
direction."

Is real change possible? We believe that ordinary people can
transform society into a real democracy.

Needed: A New Way of Seeing

Capitalism, communism, and socialism have all led to societies
in which a small elite holds the money and the cards. The elite see themselves
as the source of the good in society, and see ordinary people as a passive mass
or a dangerous problem. We are all taught to see people this way.

To change the world we must see it in a new way. Contrary to the
elite vision, ordinary working people are the source of whatever good exists in
this society; the elite are the source of the problems. Far from being a passive
mass, most people in their everyday lives struggle to shape the world with
better values than the values of the system.

The Real Meaning of Everyday Life

To see that most people strive to create a new world, look at
the reality of our everyday lives.

We live in a capitalist culture based on competition,
inequality, and selfishness. This culture attacks our self-confidence and our
relations with others, making us feel isolated and powerless. The education
system attacks the self-confidence of our children, so that they accept their
place in a society over which they will have no control. We compete to get a
job, only to find that it fulfills little of our real aspirations. If we are
unemployed, we are made to feel like failures. Advertising tells us to judge our
personal worth by the car we drive or the clothes we wear. The media
systematically misinform us. Instead they fill us with fear of other people--men
are brutes, whites are racists, blacks are criminals, women are mindless. The
message is: Trust no one.

The logic of this "dog-eat-dog" culture is that this
world should be a loveless and savage place. But in fact most people, in
important parts of their lives--with their wife or husband or children, their
friends or co-workers--struggle against the culture of competition and
inequality to create relationships based on love and trust and solidarity. Most
people try to shape the little piece of the world that they think they can
control into a better world.

This struggle often may not get very far: capitalism has
devastating effects. But to the extent that people have any positive
relationships, they have created them by a struggle against capitalist culture.

The crucial element for people to succeed in their struggle to
create a better world is to be aware that they--not political or business elites
or experts--are the source of the good in society, and that other people share
their goal of creating a new society.

When people see how much others share their values, their idea
of how much of the world they can change grows. When they gain enough awareness,
they build movements. When people's faith in each other grows large enough, they
make revolutions.

Real Democracy is Revolutionary

Capitalism concentrates money and power in the hands of the few.
Like communism, it is undemocratic to the core. We live in a fake democracy, in
which the government, the large corporations, and the media are controlled by a
ruling class. "Democracy" has been reduced to pulling a lever every
four years for some politician promising that he or she will really
change things.

The painful realities which working people face--unemployment,
cuts in education and services, homelessness--are not problems which the ruling
elite are trying to solve but weapons they use to strengthen their power. Elite
control is the problem in society. Democracy is the solution.

We need a democratic revolution to achieve the real aspirations
of most people--a society shaped by equality and commitment to the well-being of
each other and of future generations. Why must the movement be revolutionary?

*The problems we face are rooted in a system of inequality and
exploitation; they cannot be solved one by one or without creating a new
society.
*Only a new society can fulfill the values of equality and solidarity which
drive people's daily lives.
*Only a revolutionary movement can express the goals which in fact unite working
people, men and women, of all races and nationalities, and mobilize sufficient
forces to win.

What Can We Do?

The first step to creating a new society is to declare that we
want one. Let's begin to talk with each other about the society that we really
want. We ask you to copy and distribute this flyer. The next step is to link
together all who feel the same way.